Animal-poke



H. mais.

ANIMAL POKE. APPMCATIQN FILED SEFLS. 99- RENEWED APR. 28. i920.,365,394. famea Jan.11,1921.

/NVENTOR W/TVESSES l l Heim?? all [17er das ATTRNEYS UNITED STATESHERMAN GERDES, OF BENKELMAN. NEBRASKA.

ANIMAL-POKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

Application filed September 5, 1919, Serial No. 321,774. Renewed April28, 1920. Serial No. 377.399.

To all whom z' may concern.'

Be it known that I, HERMAN GERDEs, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Benkelman, in the county of Dundy and State of Nebraska,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Animal- Pokes, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to animal pokes, and an object of the invention isthe provision of a poke of simple and efficient construction, which isformed with spurs mounted to automatically engage the neck of an ani malwhen he attempts to force his way through a fence.

I will describe one form of poke embodying my invention and will thenpoint out the novel features thereof in a claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a view, showing in side elevation one form of poke embodyingmy invention and in applied position upon an animal;

Fig. 2 is a View, showing in rear elevation the poke shown in Fig. 1;and

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, taken through one of theconnections for the spur supporting bars.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of theseveral views.

Referring specifically to the drawings, K designates a yoke ofsubstantially oval formation to receive and loosely embrace the neck ofan animal. This yoke K comprises two fiat strips of metal 15 and 16,which are secured adjacent the ends, as at 17 and 17a. The portions ofthe strips between the secured points 17 and 17a are bent outwardly inthe form of an arc, as shown in Fig. 2, while those portions of the strips below the point 17a lie contiguous to each other, as shown. Theportion of the strip 15 above the point 17 is bent forwardly andupwardly to provide an extension 18, upon which is fulcrumed, as at 19,a lever L. The portion of the strip 16 above point 17 is twisted, as as20, to provide an extension 21 for slidably receiving a rod 22. One endof the rod 22 is secured to the lever L above the ful crum point 19,while the opposite end therew of is provided with a head 228L forpreventing displacement of the rod from the extension. Surrounding therod 22 is a coiled expansible spring 23, which serves to urge the leverL forwardly to the position shown in Fig. l.

Arranged upon the curved portions of the strips 15 and 16 are a pair ofsimilarly curved bars 24 and 25, which are pivotally mounted forswinging movement in a horizontal plane by means of L-bars 26 and 27pivotally connected to each other, as at 28 (Fig. 3) and lixedto thebars 24 and 25 and to the strips 15 and 16, respectively. Fixed atregular spaced intervals to the bars 24 and 25 are spurs 29, whichextend rearwardly of the yoke K and are curved inwardly to engage theneck of the animal.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the lower end of the lever L is bifurcated toprovide arms 30 and 31, which are operatively connected at their lowerends to the upper ends of the bars 24 and 25, respectively, by means oflinks 32 and 33.

From this arrangement it will be seen that with the poke in appliedposition upon the animal, as shown in Fig. 1, and the lever L in theurged position, the bars 24 and 25 will assume a position in which thespurs 29 do not engage the neck of the animal.

owever, when the upper end of the lever L is moved rearwardly, the bars24 and 25 are swung rearwardly about the pivots 28 as a center, thuscausing the spurs 29 to move inwardly and engage the neck of the animal.The two extreme positions of the spurs 29 are shown in Fig. 3. It willbe understood that because of the location of the lever L it is actuatedto cause the spurs 29 to engage the neck of the animal whenever theanimal attempts to force its way through a fence, and in this activeposition of the lever the spring 23 is compressed so that as soon as thelever is relieved of the rearward pressure the spring expands andreturns the lever to its normal position. During this movement, the bars24 and 25 are also returned to normal position thereby moving the spurs29 out of contact with the neck of the animal.

Although scribed only I have herein shown and deone form of pokeembodying my invention, it is to be understood that various changes andmodifications may be made herein without departing from the spirit ofthe invention and the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

.A n animal poke comprising a yoke conslstlng of two strips of rigidmaterial securedv adjacent their opposite ends and having that portionbetween the secured points bent outwardly in the Jrorm of nn aire, alaterally disposed extension formed on the upper end of the yoke, alever fulcrumed on said extension, a rod slidably associated with theupper end of the yoke and connected to seid lever, a spring surroundingsaid rod and interposed between said yoke and lever for `curved portionsof said yoke, spurs secured at intervals to said bars, arms formed onthe lower end of said lever, end links operatively connected with saidvbars and arms.

HERMAN GERDES.

